Chapter 117: Pursuit

"Imperial Guard Cavalry!"

Charha could not believe it.

"It is the Imperial Guard Cavalry, and there are many of them. One person must hold them off, while one person goes to save the Great King," Tamu felt anxious in his heart.

Charha looked at the soldiers who were currently locked in a fierce battle.

He read the meaning in Tamu's eyes.

"You go save the Great King, I will hold them off," Charha said.

His soldiers were already entangled with the Yan Wang's soldiers; only Tamu's troops were still intact.

Tamu nodded, and he withdrew from the road heading south, moving along the road to the west.

Charha assembled the remaining two thousand cavalry.

He looked toward the south, where a group of cavalry in red military uniforms and brown Armor were charging toward him.

"Kill!" Charha shouted loudly and charged toward the Yanguan Imperial Guard cavalry.

Both sides immediately began a chaotic slaughter on the road.

On the other side, the situation of the battle quickly became clear.

The Northern Di cavalry wearing light Armor appeared very weak before the heavily armored Wangfu Army soldiers.

Their Curved Blade strikes against the Wangfu Army soldiers' Armor could not cause any wounds.

Yet the Yan Wang soldiers' Long Sword and Long Blade strikes were lethal.

Especially after losing their reinforcements, they also fell into a numerical disadvantage, with one person having to face two Yan Wang soldiers.

Before long, only Wangfu Army soldiers remained on the battlefield.

Lv Chang's chest rose and fell slightly.

He shook the blood off his Long Sword and shouted: "Reform the formation, Horizontal Formation!"

Under his command, the Long Spear soldiers stepped forward and formed a horizontal line, totaling three rows, with the other soldiers behind them.

Glancing at the two groups of cavalry fighting on the road and in the fields on both sides of the road, he ordered his soldiers to advance toward them to assist the cavalry reinforcements.

He recognized these cavalry; they were the Imperial Guard of Great Song.

"Rumble..."

The soldiers' rhythmic footsteps made a soft sound.

They gradually enveloped Charha's cavalry in an arc.

Lv Chang followed behind his soldiers step by step; his army was constantly compressing Charha's maneuvering space.

Seeing the Wangfu Army soldiers arrive, the morale of the Imperial Guard soldiers soared instantly.

Amidst bursts of battle cries, they traded blows with the Northern Di cavalry.

The vast fields were filled with cavalry in a chaotic melee.

Their numbers already held the advantage.

Now that the Yan Wang soldiers had joined the fray, they became even more at ease, with two or three men chasing down a single Northern Di cavalryman.

Northern Di cavalrymen kept falling from their horses.

"Kill!" Upon entering the battlefield, Lv Chang shouted loudly.

The Wangfu Army soldiers pushed forward like a net.

When they encountered Northern Di soldiers, the Long Spear soldiers would thrust.

The Northern Di cavalry who fell to the ground were then hacked to death by the Shield-bearer soldiers behind.

Half an hour later, only a small number of Northern Di cavalry were still struggling.

Charha knocked an Imperial Guard soldier off his horse.

He glanced behind him; the Yan Wang soldiers were already closing in.

Pulling on the reins, he tried to charge through a gap to escape.

But the Yan Wang soldiers immediately used their Long Spear to stab his horse.

The Warhorse let out a miserable whinny and threw him to the ground.

Before he could get up, several Long Blade weapons were pressed against his neck.

At this moment, he saw a sturdy general come before him, his gaze icy.

Tamu had already traveled quite far, and he had dispatched many scattered cavalry squads to set out along the roads.

On the road, the Northern Di soldiers shouted the word "Great King" in the unique language of the Northern Di.

They did not know where their Great King was.

They could only use this method to attract his attention.

Such squads ran along every road in Wuan County.

Xiaozhang Village.

Six Prince's Personal Army cavalry were drinking water in the village.

Afterward, they would continue to search for traces of Kutu in Wuan County.

The villagers gathered around the soldiers, boasting about how they had annihilated the Northern Di cavalry who came to plunder in the village.

They even brought out the Northern Di soldiers' Curved Blade weapons to show the cavalry.

The cavalry smiled; they had passed through many villages.

This time, the Northern Di's plundering in the countryside had not yielded any benefits.

Not only had they failed to seize grain and fodder from the countryside, but they had also lost many men and horses.

At this moment, shouts different from those in Yanzhou rang out.

The Cavalry grew alert and ran to the village entrance to peer down the road.

They saw a squad of over ten Northern Di Cavalry pass by while shouting something.

"What are they shouting?" one Cavalryman asked, looking at his burly companion beside him.

"They are shouting 'Great King'," the burly Cavalryman said.

He had once been abducted to the Grassland as a slave, but he had seized an opportunity to escape back, so he was familiar with the Northern Di language.

"The Northern Di reinforcements have arrived," one Cavalryman said. "What should we do?"

"I have an idea," one Cavalryman said, his eyes rolling around. "Qiangzi knows the Northern Di accent, so why don't we..."

While the other Cavalrymen nodded upon hearing this, they were also somewhat hesitant.

"If we are exposed, we are dead for sure," one Cavalryman worried.

"Cowards, if you don't risk the child, you won't catch the wolf; military merit isn't so easily earned."

The six men were silent for a moment, then finally nodded one after another. "Let's do it."

Having discussed it, they returned to the village, only to find that the villagers had all disappeared.

Speechless, they shouted several times.

At this moment, a villager crawled out from under a stone mill by the roadside.

The Cavalryman spoke to the villager, who understood and immediately crawled back in; when he came out again, he was carrying Northern Di soldiers' clothing, Curved Blades, and other items.

The Cavalrymen messed up their hair, tied it up in the style of the Northern Di, put on the Northern Di clothing, and took the Northern Di Curved Blades and bows and arrows.

"Great King," the soldier called Qiangzi shouted.

The others laughed; it really was exactly the same.

Noon.

In a forest thirty li south of Wuan County.

Kutu was eating wild fruit to stave off hunger when he suddenly heard a familiar tone.

He was immediately overjoyed and ordered people to investigate at once.

After a while, a squad of Cavalry arrived, dismounted, and knelt before Kutu.

"Great King, we are soldiers under the command of Tamu's wolf-record, and we are here to take you back to the Grassland," the Cavalryman said.

Kutu and his bodyguard Cavalry were immediately overjoyed, and a burst of laughter rang out.

Now, they could finally go back.

Kutu said, "Where is Tamu?"

After sending out Cavalry squads in all directions, their wolf-record and main force of Cavalry had gone into hiding.

They were now waiting for news in an unnamed mountain hollow.

The Cavalryman said, "It is fifty li to the northwest."

"Set out immediately," Kutu said; for Cavalry, fifty li could be reached in less than an hour.

Under his command, the bodyguard unit immediately assembled and headed northwest.

The group of Cavalry traveled along the road, dust flying.

The Cavalry squads searching for Kutu on the road were discovered constantly converging.

The six Wangfu Cavalry had not been tailing a Northern Di squad for long when they suddenly discovered the Northern Di Cavalry squad turning at a crossroads.

They followed them and discovered a large group of Northern Di Cavalry coming toward them on the road heading west.

"What should we do?" one Cavalryman said.

"Blend in with them and leave marks along the way," the Cavalryman called Qiangzi said.

The Cavalry responsible for reconnaissance had their own marks; this was to facilitate meeting and contacting one another.

Their mark was a red bean; scattering one marked the route, while scattering two meant a warning.

Everyone nodded and together they headed toward the Northern Di Cavalry.

Because they encountered many Cavalry squads along the way, Kutu only glanced at them before continuing toward Tamu's direction.

Half an hour later.

An Infantry unit composed of two thousand men passed by here, and the soldiers discovered the red beans on the ground and immediately informed their commander.

They were the Wuan County soldiers responsible for pursuing and suppressing Kutu.

"Forced march, quickly," the commander shouted.

As his voice fell, the soldiers quickened their pace and pursued along the road where the red beans had been scattered.

On the road, they suddenly met a unit of Cavalry, which was Chen Hu.

"Colonel Chen, you have come just in time." The commander pointed at the red beans on the ground and said, "Our Cavalry must have discovered the tracks of the Northern Di."

"We will go at once; Kutu must not be allowed to leave Yan Commandery," Chen Hu's gaze was like lightning.

After the Great Song Imperial Guard Cavalry headed to Wuan County, he had followed right after.

Leading his troops away directly, he also sent out Cavalry to contact the Yanguan Imperial Guard Cavalry.

With his current troop strength, it was difficult to withstand the Northern Di Cavalry.

At the same time.

Kutu arrived at the mountain hollow the Cavalry had mentioned and saw Tamu waiting there.

"Great King," Tamu came to greet him, his expression excited.

"Where is Charha?" Kutu asked.

Tamu sighed and told him about Charha staying behind to cover their retreat.

Kutu's face was livid; Muto's life or death was unknown, and now Charha was likely in the hands of Yan Wang's soldiers as well.

To him, this was simply a supreme humiliation.

"Yan Wang, I will definitely slice your flesh off piece by piece," Kutu said with a ferocious expression.

He admitted that he had been careless this time, having underestimated Yan Wang too much.

He would not forget this lesson; once he returned, he would surely prepare thoroughly and come back for revenge.

After resting in place for a while, the soldiers fed forage to the horses.

Kutu and Tamu decided not to linger any longer.

They mounted their horses and left the mountain hollow, returning to the main road, preparing to detour through Shanggu Commandery to return to the Grassland.

But just as he exited the mountain hollow, he suddenly saw a unit of silver-armored Cavalry charging toward them.

"Yan Wang's Cavalry," Kutu exclaimed in shock.

He was all too familiar with Yan Wang's soldiers; they all wore this kind of bright silver Armor.

"Great King, you go first, this general will cover the rear," Tamu said, leading the Cavalry to meet Yan Wang's Cavalry head-on.

Tamu's Cavalry filed past Kutu one after another.

At this moment, six of the Cavalry suddenly turned, one of them lunging straight at Kutu, a Curved Blade pressed against his neck.

The other five Cavalry surrounded Kutu, keeping a wary eye on Kutu's guards.